Double or nothing; good sales tactic?

Okay so if you had read any of my earlier posts this year you will know that I set a goal to lose 19 pounds by Feb 14th. And to make myself a little more accountable I did the following:

kept an exercise and diet log on my blog

bet my 11yr old (bet against me) and 7 yr old (he was on my side)

I tweeted about it too to make sure people held me accountable

I thought that the public scrutiny would work but really it was betting against my very competitive 11 yr old that was the toughest. I just wasn’t ready for my kids to know that dad was a real person. The kids do find that out eventually and probably when we least expect it! But there was no way I was going to purposely cause myself to be knocked from the parental pedestal. And it doesn’t matter that my son can whip me in a 5k already; psychologically he still thinks I can beat him. Most likely because I have avoided a head to head race.

So here we are, just passed the goal line and I failed miserably! It was a good start–all 4 or 5 days of it. And it doesn’t matter what the excuse is. Irregular schedule, travel, socializing or just good ole fashion lack of commitment.

As a good parent I had to use this as an opportunity to teach the kids a few lessons. At least that’s the spin I put on it!

Lesson number one: don’t give up. Just because you set a goal and miss it has no relevance to your ability to set a new goal and complete it. Keeping with Edison, I now know one more way NOT to lose the weight that I wanted to. Perseverance is the key. And there is a perfect quote from Edison on the subject:

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -Edison

Lesson number two: more accountability is better. So I tought my boys about Double or Nothing. The original bet was $5. You’re right, not much accountability in that dollar figure. So when I went for double or nothing, Caleb said, NO. What? So I upped it to $20 and then $50. Obviously he is brighter than I am because he held out for $100!

The good news is that I haven’t lost the bet, I still have face and I have much more accountability for stage 2.

I now have until March 9th to lose the 19 pounds (yes the starting point is the same!) and I am changing a few things (of course you can’t expect different results without actually doing something differently). I got my wife to buy in–she’s an awesome baker and I’ll have none of that. You know, lead us not into temptation! Other than that I am doing a much better job of tracking what I am doing daily by using an iphone application called lose it.

More updates on that to come but now to a little business:

I started thinking about how much more accountable I would be with the double or nothing bet. I don’t win anything at the end except what really matters. The weight loss, pride, healthier eating, completion of another significant goal. The $5 would have meant nothing compared to all the intangibles. It really is about the destination.

And that lead me to think about my company, Infusionsoft, and how we have done the same thing. We are the only CRM company (tough to call us that because we are so much more) to offer a guarantee to Double Your Sales. Double or Nothing. If you don’t double your sales, you pay nothing (a complete refund on the set up and consultation). And if you do double your sales then we all win. But just like my own personal goal, companies who qualify will have to make a significant committment to make it happen. We just provide the tools and the road map; you have to provide the sweat. And that brings me to another great Edison quote:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. –Edison

Just think of how much more accountable Infusionsoft is now that we have promissed to double the sales of any company who qualifies?

So Double or Nothing; Good Sales Tactic? I think so because we all come out winners. If I lose my weight, my son doesn’t get $100 or even $5. But keeping dad on a pedestal is priceless.

And if you want to join me and the team on our Nationwide Double Your Sales Tour, just click here and register. Its free!